John Wheatley's Blog
July 20, 2025
Amazon Audible Audiobooks
I wonder how many authors out there have been invited by Amazon to convert their e-books into audio books?
I was sceptical at first. How would a virtual voice capture the essential quality of the written word and bring it to life? Would it not sound robotic, flat and toneless?
However, in the spirit of having a go with nothing to lose, I selected one of my favourites from amongst my novels: THE EXILE'S DAUGHTER, and embarked on the process.
You get to select from a range of 'voices' [which you can sample first] male and female, English, American English, Australian English. You can also edit pronunciation where the 'voice' gets it wrong. For example, my book has a lot of Welsh and foreign names and place names - when the pronunciation wasn't right, I could offer an alternative phonetic spelling to get closer to what I wanted.
It took me a few days but it was quite a fun process [and also gave me an additional layer of editing].
It's out there now on KDP and I'm quite pleased with the result. I knew it wasn't going to have the quality of a reading by a skilled professional actor but as a low-budget option it is definitely worth considering.
I'd be interested to hear from other authors who may have experience of this.
John Wheatley
I was sceptical at first. How would a virtual voice capture the essential quality of the written word and bring it to life? Would it not sound robotic, flat and toneless?
However, in the spirit of having a go with nothing to lose, I selected one of my favourites from amongst my novels: THE EXILE'S DAUGHTER, and embarked on the process.
You get to select from a range of 'voices' [which you can sample first] male and female, English, American English, Australian English. You can also edit pronunciation where the 'voice' gets it wrong. For example, my book has a lot of Welsh and foreign names and place names - when the pronunciation wasn't right, I could offer an alternative phonetic spelling to get closer to what I wanted.
It took me a few days but it was quite a fun process [and also gave me an additional layer of editing].
It's out there now on KDP and I'm quite pleased with the result. I knew it wasn't going to have the quality of a reading by a skilled professional actor but as a low-budget option it is definitely worth considering.
I'd be interested to hear from other authors who may have experience of this.
John Wheatley
June 28, 2021
CONSEQUENCES
Novella by John Wheatley
Set in the late eighties and nineties, the story is a love story revolving around a miscarriage of justice. The central character and narrator, Tony, from Middleton, near Manchester, has served a prison sentence for manslaughter, persuaded by his solicitor to enter a guilty plea to avoid a murder charge, despite not having committed the crime. The narrative follows events leading up to the ‘crime’, beginning with a holiday romance between Tony and Jenny, in St Anne’s, an enforced separation, and a resumption of the relationship when they meet, four years later, on a college campus in Rochdale. The reunion is intense but also poisoned by jealousy, and a fight at a party between Tony and Ben Tyler, who he sees as a rival, leads to him being the obvious suspect when Ben’s body is later found.
Pre-0rder price at Amazon Kindle: 99p
Release date of E-book and Paperback 30th July 2021
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B097Z1NBBN
Set in the late eighties and nineties, the story is a love story revolving around a miscarriage of justice. The central character and narrator, Tony, from Middleton, near Manchester, has served a prison sentence for manslaughter, persuaded by his solicitor to enter a guilty plea to avoid a murder charge, despite not having committed the crime. The narrative follows events leading up to the ‘crime’, beginning with a holiday romance between Tony and Jenny, in St Anne’s, an enforced separation, and a resumption of the relationship when they meet, four years later, on a college campus in Rochdale. The reunion is intense but also poisoned by jealousy, and a fight at a party between Tony and Ben Tyler, who he sees as a rival, leads to him being the obvious suspect when Ben’s body is later found.
Pre-0rder price at Amazon Kindle: 99p
Release date of E-book and Paperback 30th July 2021
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B097Z1NBBN
September 12, 2016
Reluctant marketer!
Well, having written numerous historical novels in the last decade, I realise that I have always shied away from book marketing and have decided, reluctantly, to try to set the right.
The trouble is that writing is such a purely absorbing activity. You can lose yourself completely in the world you are trying to create and forget about everything ese, even yourself.
Marketing/promotion is entirely the opposite. You have to push yourself forward, try to force people to take notice. It feels - however ridiculous this may seem - like trying to invade other people`s personal space, causing mutual discomfort!
However, having recently finished my new novel A BRIEF HISTORY OF VA`MERIA IN THE TIME OF THE PRINCES I have decided to try to seize the nettle!
A BRIEF HISTORY is different from my other novels in that it is set in an imaginary location rather than a real one. I got the basic idea when travelling across the moors from Manchester where I was working to Huddersfield where I had recently moved. This gave me some good landscape ideas, but the rest is from the world of imagination. I tried to create a history and a politics for the place, but the main emphasis is on the personal relationships.
I begin it with a fictitious bit of travel writing, to set the scene:
The island of Vastameria, comprising the two nation states, Va’meria and Karagia, lies in the Western Ocean, eighty miles from its nearest continental neighbour. The island is approximately twelve hundred miles in length, lying on a slight SW to NE axis, and spans two hundred miles at its broadest point. A belt of high moorland and mountain terrain divides the two countries in roughly equal proportions, and forms a natural border between them running from the western to the eastern seaboards.
The two countries are presently at peace with each other and have been so for 65 years, though tensions often run high, particularly over the so-called Disputed Territories, land annexed by Va`meria after the war of 1744-61.
From “A Journey in Vastameria” by Alens Brinst, 1816
But, as I say, the main interest is in the people, and, of course, their love lives!
The love-match between Prince Lemyr of Va`meria and the beautiful Linsl, 14 years his junior, is seen as a means of restoring the fortunes of an unpopular monarchy in times of political instability at home and unrest in foreign affairs. At the same time, Corporal Jakkr of the Border Guard is courting Saryl, daughter of the landlord of the Inn at the Top of the World. The trials and conflicts of their respective relationships are set against the impending war with Karagia, which will shape the destiny of all four protagonists.
Well, as ever, you throw yourself on the mercy of those who read the book. If any of you do, I`d be grateful to have a review!
The trouble is that writing is such a purely absorbing activity. You can lose yourself completely in the world you are trying to create and forget about everything ese, even yourself.
Marketing/promotion is entirely the opposite. You have to push yourself forward, try to force people to take notice. It feels - however ridiculous this may seem - like trying to invade other people`s personal space, causing mutual discomfort!
However, having recently finished my new novel A BRIEF HISTORY OF VA`MERIA IN THE TIME OF THE PRINCES I have decided to try to seize the nettle!
A BRIEF HISTORY is different from my other novels in that it is set in an imaginary location rather than a real one. I got the basic idea when travelling across the moors from Manchester where I was working to Huddersfield where I had recently moved. This gave me some good landscape ideas, but the rest is from the world of imagination. I tried to create a history and a politics for the place, but the main emphasis is on the personal relationships.
I begin it with a fictitious bit of travel writing, to set the scene:
The island of Vastameria, comprising the two nation states, Va’meria and Karagia, lies in the Western Ocean, eighty miles from its nearest continental neighbour. The island is approximately twelve hundred miles in length, lying on a slight SW to NE axis, and spans two hundred miles at its broadest point. A belt of high moorland and mountain terrain divides the two countries in roughly equal proportions, and forms a natural border between them running from the western to the eastern seaboards.
The two countries are presently at peace with each other and have been so for 65 years, though tensions often run high, particularly over the so-called Disputed Territories, land annexed by Va`meria after the war of 1744-61.
From “A Journey in Vastameria” by Alens Brinst, 1816
But, as I say, the main interest is in the people, and, of course, their love lives!
The love-match between Prince Lemyr of Va`meria and the beautiful Linsl, 14 years his junior, is seen as a means of restoring the fortunes of an unpopular monarchy in times of political instability at home and unrest in foreign affairs. At the same time, Corporal Jakkr of the Border Guard is courting Saryl, daughter of the landlord of the Inn at the Top of the World. The trials and conflicts of their respective relationships are set against the impending war with Karagia, which will shape the destiny of all four protagonists.
Well, as ever, you throw yourself on the mercy of those who read the book. If any of you do, I`d be grateful to have a review!
